Everton v Arsenal: Premier League – live! via The Guardian
6.47pm GMT
Everton: Stekelenburg, Coleman, Jagielka, Ashley Williams, Baines, McCarthy, Gana, Barkley, Lennon, Lukaku, Valencia.
Subs: Robles, Deulofeu, Mirallas, Cleverley, Funes Mori, Calvert-Lewin, Holgate.
Arsenal: Cech, Bellerin, Gabriel, Koscielny, Monreal, Coquelin, Xhaka, Walcott, Ozil, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Sanchez.
Subs: Gibbs, Lucas Perez, Giroud, Ospina, Holding, Iwobi, Elneny.
12.09pm GMT
Evening. Having gone off like a train at the beginning of the season Everton’s wheels have come off in spectacular style in the past couple of months. Look, there they are rolling off down County Road. Be a good lad, Ross, and fetch them will you? One win in 10 games is relegation form.
Ronald Koeman appears to know what is going wrong but hasn’t found the right tools to fix it yet and, as Christmas approaches, frustrated Evertonians aren’t in the mood to extend goodwill to all men, least of all those underperforming in royal blue. So Arsenal, who haven’t lost in 14 games, aren’t the ideal visitors.
But, and here’s the thing, Koeman was on a similarly dreadful run at Southampton this time last year and turned it around with an incredibly savvy 4-0 home performance against … Arsenal. Now, I know he has a different team with a different set of problems to overcome at Everton, but he exudes authority and appears to be a methodical and calm problem solver. He just needs time – that most precious of commodities that seems so difficult to squeeze out of jumpy chairmen, fans and preposterous pundits and commentators these days. Koeman hasn’t been helped by a long-term injury to Yannick Bolasie either, the one player capable of creating something from nothing when his team-mates were running down blind alleys.
Related:
Ronald Koeman seeks Everton answers before transfer window opens
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